A March wake-up call from the Cats, says Adelaide Crows coach Brenton Sanderson

ADELAIDE coach Brenton Sanderson was yesterday left to ponder how the Crows let Geelong bust open a close to full-strength Crows in just one quarter.

Geelong, who came into the match as underdogs after late withdrawals to stars Steve Johnson and Joel Corey, kicked the first 31 points, had established a 42-point lead by quarter time and was never threatened.

"It's a concern, for sure," Sanderson said.

"I mean we had a good side in today.

"We were much better than Geelong on paper, when you look at experience, games played and we were effectively a week ahead of them because we've had two practice games; they've only had one.

"We were expecting a much better effort today.

"Maybe if you can have a wake-up call in March, it probably was one.

"We've still got a couple of weeks to prepare for Round 1.

"We've got Carlton next week and we've certainly got to put in a better effort.

"Our intensity was much better after the first quarter, if you can forget about that one, but they were certainly first to the ball, we gave away more free kicks and when we tackled them they seemed to brush us off pretty easily.

"Their pressure was very good, ours was poor."

Up forward, Taylor Walker was beaten soundly by man of the match Harry Taylor.

But Walker also had to deal with below-par delivery into the area.

"(Harry) Taylor is a very good player and he certainly had the better of `Tex' (Walker) today," Sanderson said.

"We expect a lot from `Tex' but he played on a good player today, we didn't help him out - we didn't use the ball well going forward."

But the greatest worry was the backline. That was where the ball spent most of the afternoon, and the Crows had a pig of a day trying to negotiate Geelong's forward press.

"We were probably too cute with the footy in that first quarter, kicking into that wind," Sanderson said. "I think our kicking efficiency at one point was below 40 (per cent).

"They used the ball a lot better, they got the ball deep inside 50 and our skill errors ... they scored from our turnovers."